India on path to revive charm with erstwhile Eastern Bloc

NEW DELHI: President Ram Nath Kovind’s back to back trips to Eastern & Southern Europe (Greece; Cyprus; Bulgaria & Czech Republic) and Vice President’s ongoing trip to the same region (Serbia; Malta and Romania) preceded by his predecessor’s visit to Poland and Hungary in recent years cannot be seen in isolation as Delhi hopes to revive its strong political, economic and cultural partnership with the region that slowed down after 1991.

It is no secret that India enjoyed excellent political, economic and military ties with Eastern and Central Europe during the Cold War period. But ties lost its charm Post-1991 as India liberalised its economy and Eastern and Central Europe went through transformation. India, which required state of the art technology and capital, looked towards Western Europe.

However, with Eastern and Central Europe getting integrated into Europe and developing its market, niche capabilities in technology, defence and IT sectors while maintaining its distinct identity, has again drawn India towards the region rekindling hopes of revival of partnership to the pre-1991 level.

While the last three decades witnessed steady growth in ties with some countries in that part of Europe, the Modi government has decided to have an overarching approach visible through the high-level visits. Central and Eastern Europe coupled with Russia where Slavs reside have strong historical roots of language and ethnicity with India. It is a little-known fact that the study of Indology is still fascinates scholars in this region.

“In the early days of India's independence, our ties started on a strong foundation of a shared global view of Non-Aligned Movement and we together created a large platform for the third world. The changes in global geo-politics now again give us an opportunity to work together for mutual benefit and for sharing prosperity with others. It would be good to recall the words of India’s first Prime Minister Pandit Nehru at the Conference of Non- Aligned nations in Belgrade on September 2, 1961. His call which rings so true and relevant even today was "to build in our own countries societies where freedom is real. Freedom is essential, because freedom will give us strength and enable us to build prosperous societies,” Vice President Venkaih Naidu said in his address to Serbian Parliament on Saturday rekindling memories of decade old ties.

What is equally significant is the fact the goodwill that India enjoys in this erstwhile Eastern bloc and progress that countries in this region have achieved in areas including defence, high-end technology, IT based on legacy and futuristic approach.

India is looking to boost economic ties with the erstwhile communist states of Eastern Europe and with Southern Europe amid inroads by China as part of its mega infrastructure project, Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). While China wants ostensibly divide Europe between Western Europe and 16+1 approach for Central, Eastern and Southern Europe, Delhi harbours no such objective. China has promised huge investments in the Eastern and Central Europe, augmented by the 16 (Eastern-Central Europe) +1 (China) process.

Delhi is keen to enter these flourishing markets as well as seek technology and funds as opposition to BRI rises in Europe not just in Western Europe but also in subtle fashion in the erstwhile Eastern Bloc. There are growing reservations against Chinese trains entering Europe as number of countries have little to export back through these trains. Amid such rising sentiments, India’s benign approach linking the Eastern and Central Europe with Eurasia present enormous opportunities of growth. India could emerge as pivot for Eastern-Central Europe-Eurasia and Indo-Pacific region.

Four other countries in that region – Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia – are seeking to attract India to Eastern and Central Europe through their Quadrilateral grouping. They form a group – V-4 or Visegrad-4 (all European Union member states) for the purposes of advancing military, cultural, economic and energy cooperation with one another along with furthering their integration in the EU.

V-4 provides India an appropriate platform to engage with Eastern and Central Europe amid China’s 16+1 process for the region. All four nations in the group figure very high on the Human Development Index and have enjoyed steady economic growth. If counted as a single nation state, the Visegrád Group would be the fifth largest economy in Europe and the 12th largest in the world, presenting India with a huge opportunity.

India’s growing ties with the region is best exemplified with this remark. “Our economic ties hold immense promise. The Indian growth story and Czech technology and manufacturing prowess make us natural partners. Let us work to make this collaboration grow and prosper. Excellency, we have a very special connect with your country. The Bata shoe company was born here. But every Indian has grown up thinking it’s their own and every Indian child has worn these shoes to school. As we work to strengthen our people-to people relations, surely we could not have asked for more,” President Ram Nath Kovind pointed out in his remarks at the banquet given in his honour at Prague during his recent trip to the region.

Interestingly, the V4 countries are pro-nuclear power like India. They have sought to counter what they see as an anti-nuclear power bias within the EU, believing their countries would benefit from nuclear power’s zero emissions and high reliability.